“Yell-oh Girls!” break the silence

Wong and Chung
show off copies of their book at a recent reading at the Penn Bookstore.

Photo
by Candace diCarlo

Growing up, Olivia Chung (C03) felt unattractive because her eyes
lacked the fold which many Caucasians have. At school, kids teased her,
calling her names like ching-chong while pulling their eyes
upward.

Reflecting back, Chung said she felt alone in dealing with these issues.
She didnt know that other Asian-American girls, like Alaina Wong
(C02), also shared her insecurities.

I remember as a kid just feeling a confused hurt because it hurt
to be humiliated for something that I couldnt change [and] control.
It should have been something that I embraced, but everyone else is making
fun of you so you become ashamed of it, said Chung. And it didnt
help that her mother suggested eye surgery as a solution.

Years later Chung and Wong have come to terms with their self-doubts.
But more than that, they want to break the silence on what it means to
be an Asian-American girl. Both have contributed pieces to Vickie Nams
anthology, Yell-oh Girls!: Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity,
and Growing Up Asian American. The book, which gathers stories from
68 Asian-American girls between the ages of 14 and 21 from across the
nation, tackles the issues of growing up Asian-American and female.

Similar to Chung, Wong recalls being fixated with a particular idea of
beauty which she knew she could never achieve given her natural hair and
eye coloring. She shares this in China Dolls, a semi-autobiographical
short story.

When youre little [and] you get Barbie dolls, you want the
most popular onesthe one with blond hair and blue eyes, the ones
you see on TV. My mom tried to get me one that looked Asian. She wanted
to instill in me that it wasnt all about being blond and blue eyes
and Caucasian. So when I got the Asian doll, I was kind of disappointed,
said Wong.

Wong, who answered Nams call for submissions last summer, said
she doesnt mind laying bare her personal experiences. I think
a lot of people are reluctant to talk directly about themselves and to
share so much of themselves. [But] I think its important to write
stories that people can relate to and connect to something in someone
else. In that way, I dont mind sharing parts of myself, she
said.

Chung agrees. She said the process of both writing and reading Yell-oh
Girls! built solidarity. In her short story Finding My Eyedentity,
Chung isnt afraid to make what once was personal, public. The piece
documents the conflicts she had with her mom over getting the eye surgery.
Yet the story hasnt damaged their relationship. If anything, a new
understanding has been reached.

She still jokingly asks me, Do you want to get the surgery
done? Im like, No! [But] shes supportive.
She sees the point to it [the story]. She knows that I dont need
that to be self-confident, said Chung.

While the anthology aims to give Asian-American females a larger voice,
Chung said its a book everyone should read. The two short stories
she and Wong have contributed, along with her untitled spoken-word poem
and Chungs piece on activism titled Tip of the Iceberg: Letter
to the Director, also seek a larger audience.

Chung said, Yell-oh Girls! is a lesson in cultural sensitivity
that can benefit everyone.

Penn Current Express

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